Missed all of this as only got back from Hong Kong yesterday and was too wrecked even to get on line. Sounds like Andy was just using this for some light practice and diplomatically let the other Andy win. Nothing to get het up about. It would have been stupid of him to go all out to win what sounds like a shambles of a tournament.

Missed all of this as only got back from Hong Kong yesterday and was too wrecked even to get on line. Sounds like Andy was just using this for some light practice and diplomatically let the other Andy win. Nothing to get het up about. It would have been stupid of him to go all out to win what sounds like a shambles of a tournament.

Like I said earlier - it wouldn't surprise me if Andy was the one who had the schedule changed so's he could play one match, let Roddick beat him and skip off back to the real stuff, i.e. his training for next season, having done a good bit of PR work. I don't see how anyone can take this pathetic tournament seriously. Promised much but delivered zilch.

Took me a while to reach it though. Don't know why I got so excited about the match initially. Andy was there just for the fun of it and to join in the tribute to Roddick. After all, as he said, he lives only 5 minutes away from the court, so no big deal.

Just watching the final. Almagro took first set 6-4, breaking Roddick in the 9th game. Has Almagro read the script?

5-5. Second set getting serious now.

7-5 Almagro.

Roddick got a gift of a personalised mountain bike from one of the sponsors, which he seemed happy with, and Almagro got a more light-weight one. Both players were presented with very unusual trophies - 'creative' was the word used by the comms.

Where were the spectators for this match as well? The place was only about one-thirds full. Doesn't bode too well for this tournament continuing but apparently plans are in hand for 2013 and Larry Sefanki thinks it will take off as being a 'must' for players during the off-season. At least the spectators who did turn up were enjoying themselves, so maybe the idea will spread, but hopefully 'lessons will have been learnt' by the organisers. Almagro was quite happy to join in with Roddick in some fooling around during the match, which was great to see.

I guess it means more to Almagro to win than to our Andy. I guess people got excited about it just because we face an Andy desert until after Xmas! I think he'll be taking the Abu Dabhi event more seriously somehow.

I am puzzled as to why Murray has entered for Abu Dabhi. In previous years he has complained that it is cold there and after he stopped he said it hindered his efforts to cope with the jetlag after arriving in Australia. What has changed his mind? Money Lendl or both?

I am puzzled as to why Murray has entered for Abu Dabhi. In previous years he has complained that it is cold there and after he stopped he said it hindered his efforts to cope with the jetlag after arriving in Australia. What has changed his mind? Money Lendl or both?

In the past he used to play Doha as well, so didn't arrive in Australia until a week later than he'll be doing this year. As it stands, he'll arrive in Brisbane at the same time as he did last year so jet lag shouldn't be too much of a problem - and stopping in Abu Dhabi for a few days helps to break up the long journey to Australia too.

Given the top players this event always attracts, the money has to be a big incentive to play. I'm not sure what the appearance fees are, but imagine they are very generous. It's also a good event though, one I always enjoy watching.

Don't forget that this year he's back in the UK for actual Christmas, so he'd be travelling from London (presumably), not Miami to Abu Dabhi, and then onto Brisbane, which makes it a much more logical stop-off than in the past.